Oklahoma Plans First Execution Since Troubled Lethal Injection

Oklahoma this week plans to conduct its first execution since a faulty lethal injection last April led to U.N. criticism and prompted President Barack Obama to seek a re-examination of how capital punishment is implemented in the United States.

The state is set to execute child rapist and murderer Charles Warner on Thursday after spending months revising its protocol for the death chamber to prevent the shortcomings with its last execution.

Lawyers for death row inmates said even with the new protocols, the state's execution process remained deeply flawed. They are seeking a court-ordered halt on grounds the Oklahoma process could violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

"We will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent the scheduled executions from going forward due to the substantial risk of harm," said Dale Baich, one of the attorneys representing Oklahoma death row inmates.

On Monday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion to halt the execution, saying the new protocols and lethal drug combination for the state were appropriate.

Warner was convicted of the 1997 rape and murder of 11-month-old Adrianna Waller, daughter of his roommate Sharon Waller.

He was to be executed on April 29, an hour after Clayton Lockett, whose execution was halted after his IV broke free and spewed chemicals and blood over the death chamber.

During Lockett's execution, a doctor and paramedic attempted more than a dozen times to place an IV line, finally landing one in his groin area, a state report said. Officials halted the execution about 15 minutes after it began, but Lockett died about a half hour later from toxic chemicals that accumulated in his tissue.

The new protocols require additional training of execution doctors, paramedics and prison staff. There are procedures for backup drugs and allowing the prison director to request a postponement if the execution team has an hour of unsuccessful IV attempts.

The state also wants to have fewer members of the media witness the executions and allow for curtains to be drawn on the chamber if things go wrong.

Prisons director Robert Patton said this week he was confident the execution would be carried out properly.

Lawyers for death row inmates are not as confident and have raised concern about the secrecy surrounding the source of the lethal injection cocktail and questions over what is in the mix.

Oklahoma this week plans to conduct its first execution since a faulty lethal injection last April led to U.N. criticism and prompted President Barack Obama to seek a re-examination of how capital punishment is implemented in the United States.The state is set to execute...